kehatch

It really is the preseason. I am not suggesting there isn't anything to worry about. Thr team gets a big fat F in just about every category and we have less then a week until go time. But nothing thst matters has happened yet and plenty of teams have poor preseasons before a strong regular season.

Sell the soap box and use what you get to buy a trip back to reality. Nobody is selling Lack as anything more then a temporary backup. Suggesting the best thing for Gilles is returning to the AHL to develop his game isn't giving up on him. Gilles hasn't shown that he is ready. There is nothing to debate about right now. When he does I will be first in line to cheer him onto the team.

Sounds like Smith gets the last two starts. My guess is Gilles backs up tomorrow as an "Atta boy" and goes back to the AHL Friday. The Flames should have their final roster for the last game.

You would have a lot more support if Gilles was killing it in the preseason or coming off of a great AHL season. Preferably both. He isn't. End of debate.

First, Darren Haynes might be the most respected Flames media member out there. Second, I wasn't speaking about a prospect being premature. I was speaking about you singing the told you so song when Gilles hasn't made the team (and still very probably will not out of camp). I am rooting for Gilles/Parsons/Ritich as much as anyone. I would LOVE to have a prospect step up as a legitimate NHL starter. I am also rooting for Lack to pull a Dubnyk (though I am less positive about that chance). But the reality is Lack tended an AHL team against an NHL team in two early preseason games. We can argue about his performance (I don't think he was that bad in his last game, didn't see the Edmonton one). But suggesting this will cause the coach/GM to dramatically change the impressions that led them to acquire Lack is silliness. Especially when Gilles hasn't exactly rocked the preseason (by the stat line , Lack has been the better goalie).

Darren Haynes says stop thinking such silliness. http://www.flamesfrom80feet.ca/2017/09/cuts-like-knife-driving-home-this.html?m=1 Lack is a LockThe presence of Jon Gillies may have some of you thinking that maybe he has a chance to beat out Eddie Lack for the back-up job. Well, stop thinking such silliness because there is zero chance of that happening.Gillies is around as an insurance piece only. Despite giving up eight goals in his game-and-a-half, Lack is a lock for the back-up job behind Mike Smith at least to start the season.With a year left on his contract the the Flames only on the hook for half of the Swede's $2.75 AAV, Lack is someone that can easily be buried in the minors at some point this season if things go south. But we're not there yet and those chagrined at how the first two appearances have gone need to take a closer look at the circumstances of those two starts. Both games -- versus Connor McDavid and the Oilers and versus Patrik Laine and the Jets -- were on the road. Both games were against far superior line-ups than what the Flames suited up. In fact, each game featured only four or five players expected to be in Calgary's opening night line-up. Lack has yet to play a single minute behind Calgary's vaunted top four on defence. Instead, in his starts he's seen a steady dose of Stone (x2), Kulak (x2), Wotherspoon (x2), Bartkowski (x2) and Andersson (x2) in front of him. The inexperienced Josh Healyand Juuso Valimaki also getting one start each. Good luck with that. Five of the eight goals he's given up have been on the power play with 90 percent of the Flames regular penalty killers watching the game on TV in Calgary. Even-strength save percentage is generally viewed as the preferred stat when evaluating goaltenders and Lack has put up a respectable .923 (stopped 36 of 39 shots) so far. For context, that figure would have ranked him 15th in the NHL last season.While he hasn't proven he's back to being Canucks' Lack as opposed to Canes' Lack, there's no reason to panic quite yet. Sure, seeing Gillies in a Flames uniform is possible, but I'd suggest it would be December at the earliest. Before that happens, Lack will get plenty of opportunity to show that with NHL defencemen in front of him as well as NHL forwards, he is the capable goaltender that Gulutzan is familiar with when when he was on the west coast.

You aren't the coach or the GM. The former is the one who asked for Lack and the latter is the one that traded assets for him. So they didn't come into the preseason with your presumptions. Two preseason games against over matched teams (Lack) and a game and a bit of okay play (Gilles) certainly isn't validating anything for them. I would give you the conventional wisdom on why it is still unlikely Gilles makes the team, but you would discard it. I will leave it with this. Your applauding yourself too early (again). How about you wait to see if Gilles actually makes the team before the dramatic told you so's?

Hopefully it is just forum members that need to comment in how premature you are...

Good news is that you have to go back to 2009 to find a draft where we didn't score a hit. (The jury is still out on 2015 and 2012, but they look good) 2007- Backlund 2008- Brodie (Bouma) 2009- Bad Draft 2010- Ferland 2011- Gaudreau (Baertschi, Granlund) 2012- Jankowski (Gilles, Kulak) 2013- Monahan (Poirier, Klimchuk) 2014- Bennett 2015- Anderson (Kylington, Mangiapane) 2016- Tkachuk (Parsons, Fox, ++) Before 07 drafting and development for the Flames had been bad for a long time.

It's too early to judge yet, but the early impressions on the Flames 2015 and 16 drafts are very positive. In fact 2016 might be the best one in a long time. It shows the influence a GM team has. Same guys in charge of scouting under Sutter, Feaster, and Treliving but totally different drafts. The 2013 draft was supposed to define our future identity. But Monahan (the obvious pick) might be the only player in the bunch.

There was an article on flamesnation.ca (I think) comparing Smith to Elliott. The big difference was consistency. Smith may not be an elite goalie. But he is steady and predictable. I think the Flames biggest issue in net had been the lack of consistency. Hiller, Johnson, Elliott, etc went through long stretches of being terrible and it appeared to impact the teams confidence. Having a steady tender will be a refreshing change.

In: Hamonic, Stone, Kulak Out: Wideman, Engelland, Jokipakka That is an upgrade no matter how you slice it. Sure we haven't proven we have one of the top D units yet, but there is plenty of reason to be optimistic.

Gilles or Rittich will get an opportunity if there is an injury. Just like 90 percent of goalie prospects. I am more focused on Gilles rebounding in the AHL. Sure he played well at the end and that is a positive sign. But looking at segments of play is never a good way to evaluate goalies. He needs to do that over a long period.

It's a concern for sure. But the positive is the guy has so many other tools working. If he can figure out his decision making and improve his defensive play he could be a high end D man. I personally have him behind Anderson, Valimaki, and Fox in terms of best prospects though, and I get the concerns.

People need to keep in mind that Kylington is at an age where most of his peers are in junior. That said, I am confident the Flames will get a D or two out of the system. Between Valimaki, Fox, Anderson, Kylington, etc we have a lot of bullets in thst gun. We also can't forget Kulak. He has quietly turned into a decent possession Dman. He will never be flashy, but he could be a reliable bottom pairing guy.

I don't love our solution for net for the simple reason that it is a Band-Aid. The expansion draft represented an opportunity to bring on a legitimate number 1 who would helm the position long term. What we got was a decent tandem for one or two seasons. That said, this team absolutely needs stability in net for this season. Most of our core is entering their prime and are getting paid top dollar. We need to take a step forward and that requires goalies we can trust. I think we got that for this season. Let's just hope one of the kids graduates and shows starter prowess in the next two or we will have to play this game again shortly (and probably without the benefit of an expansion draft).

They save a bit of money and clear up a goalie. Clearly there wasn't a big market for Lack.

Great trade. Cost nothing and Calgary gets a competent backup for under 2 million. Murphy could turn it around as well, he was a top prospect not long ago. Lack wasn't my first choice for backup. But honestly, it's splitting hairs a bit at this point.

Anderson has one year of pro under his belt. He needs to have a great camp to even make the team. Stone stabilized our D when he arrived. The Flames are clearly positioning our D as a position of strength. Not having the depth to maintain it during an injury would be counter productive to that end. I will be shocked if they don't bring on a veteran for the third pairing.

It took Brodie and Giordano three seasons of part time and sheltered NHL minutes before they slowly started to take top 4 minutes. Bartowski, Kulak, and Wotherspoon will probably never be suitable options for the top 4. Anderson, Kylington, etc may be, but they aren't ready yet. I agree with playing them. But having no legitimate top 4 options in case of injury isn't only bad for the teams success, it's bad development because it forces you to put prospects in a place they aren't ready for. Leave a spot open for the kids sure. Also, injury will dictate more call ups from the farm. Hut you need a 5D to give you options to manage injury time when it occurs. If a kid is ready at that time great, but at least your hand isn't forces.

If we had NHL ready prospects with top 4 potential I would agree with you. But we don't have that in my opinion.

The challenge of putting a couple of kids on the bottom pairing is that you have no depth if there is an injury. I would prefer to see Stone, Fransen, or someone like that paired with one of the kids. Gives us depth when an inevitable injury occurs.

It's Christmas morning and we got the 7 year old Honda instead of the new Audi we wanted. Plus mom and dad arguably paid a little too much. Disappointing, but it will get us to work safely in the morning. The Flames couldn't go back to Elliott. He was the single biggest reason we played catch up all year. He was also the single biggest reason we were out in four. Fair or not, those are the facts. The GM had to make a change. The Flames couldn't go with a gamble. We are at the point in our build where we can't afford a gamble in net. I was hoping the Flames would have went with a better temporary fix, or even better a long term fix, but we have seen many of those options disappear and who knows what is actually available and at what cost. Smith is fine. He is a decent number one and a clear upgrade in net. He gives us a year or two to get a kid in net or find something else. A second and a okay prospect without a contract isn't the moon (even if it is a bit much). I am meh on the deal. But at the end of the day it is better then biking to work. At the very least he is a solid option for next season.

Grossman (on paper) appears to be one of the worst players on his team in the Swedish Hockey League. I am still not sure how the coaches played this dude for 4 games on the NHL. Just an interesting tidbit that doesn't impact the team going forward.

I don't understand why people suggest Brodie doesn't have high end offensive skills. He doesn't have a great shot, but he is an elite passed and puck mover. The guy put up 40 points in each of the last two season, last season he put up 45 in 70 games and was fifth in team scoring (second in the NHL for even strength assists among D). He has struggled this season. Part of it I think is the system. Part of it is playing on the left side. Some if it is being stuck with Wideman. Maybe he is being impacted by personal issues as some have indicated. But I am confident he will turn it around at some point.